Manufacture of books and pamphlets



(No Model.) 4-'Sheets-Sheet 3. D. S. GLARK.

MANUFACTURE OF BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

No. 375,125. Patented Dec. '20, 1887.

Atto rin-y. v

UNITED STATES DWIGHT S. CLARK, OF

PATENT OFFICE.

ICAMBRIDGEPORT, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM H. FOBBES,

or BOSTON, MASSAOHUSETTS.

MANUFCTURE OFBOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

SPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375.125, dated December20, 1887.

Application filed October 26, 1886. Serial No. 217,249. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DWIG-HT S. CLARK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oambridgeport, in t-he county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Iuprovements in theManufacture of Books and Pamphlets; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the nvention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This inventiou has reference to the process of book-making, its objectbeing to acomplsh the necessary operations in an economic way, savingboth labor and material and tine as well. a

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figures 1 to 26,inclusive, illustrate the manner in which the imposing and folding aredone in practically carrying out my invention. Fg. 27 shows onfa largerscale the binding of three connected and folded books by means ofsewing. Fig. 28 represents the same covered before trimming. Fig. 29 isa single book or pamphlet cut apart after trimming. Fig. 30 is an endelevation of the same.

In producinga book, pamphlet,or signature according to the method I haveinventedl begin by inposing the pages of matter by usingin the form atleast two, and more frequently several, repetitions of each page ofcompositiou;

The sheets may be printed as whole sheets, and therefore from twodifferent forms,

-one for each side, and then folded; orthey may be printed from onelarge forn, turned I over, printed on the back, and then cut into twohalf 77 sheets,in the well-known way,and each half folded in the mannerto be hereinafter described. In the whole sheet and in each of thehalf-sheets, however, at least two each of all of the pages which arerequired to complete thebook or pamphlet must be included, as has beenalready explained.

The imposition of the pages of composition is accomplished in suchaccordance with the way in which the sheet is to be subsequently foldedthat when that step in the process has been completed each book, thoughjoined to the others, forming a group, can be sepasignature in theordinary way-that is, the

entire sheet containing a series of books is treated as a singlesignature or pamphlet, the separation of the books or si gnatures fromeach other being the last step in the process. Consequently, althoughthe lines of foldage may be longer, there will be,as a rule,uo morefolds in a sheet which forms two, three, four, or eight, or other numberof completed pamphlets than'in a single pamphlet printedfrom a singleform imposed for the same number of pages.

In Fig. 1 a diagram is given representing the "inside face of a printedsheet arranged for the production of three pamphlets of thirtytwo pageseach. Fig. 2 shows the outside of the same sheet. In both these figuresthe numerals indicate the positions of the pages, and it will be foundthat three of every folio appear upon the two sides taken together, theobject being to produce three books. Assuming Fig. l to lie fiat uponthe table, the first fold is made upon the dottcdline z z-that is,between the fronts of the pages to the right and left of it and not atthe foot, as is usual where four folds are required. In doing this theedge of the sheet marked A is lifted and brought down upon the edge B,and the folded edge C creased down, as represented in Fig. The secondfold is on the dotted line y y, the edge D being lifted and made tocoincide with E, giving the result shown in Fig. 4, F being the creasededge. Then on the dotted line a: x the third fold is made, giving Fig. 5with the folded edge at G, and fiually the last fold on w w gives thethree books connected together, as in Fig. 6, with the folded edge at H,together formiug a group.

In the foregoing figures-namely, Figs. 1, 3, 4, and -l'ittle arrows areintroduced to indicate the way in which the paper is folded on thedotted lines. In thecase cited they co'n- ICQ a somewhat increased cost.

Verge for every fold, showing that the dotted lines are, as it were,depressed, and that the bending of the paper, as regarded from above, isconcave-that is, the two sides of the paper are tui-ned toward theobserver or forward. This is not always the case, as 'will be seenhereinafter. It will also be observed in this case that the order inwhich the four folds follow each other is first between the fronts, thenbetween the heads/ then between the fronts again, and lastly through thebaeks, differing in this respect, essen-tially, from the well-knownorderfollowed by printers in folding single signaturcs.

In Fig. 27 the next step in my process is illustrated for the sane bookof thirty-two pages, three on asheet. This consistsin binding all threebooks at once by running a row ofsewing down the three backs, as shownat a b. This line of stitching or staples is a straight line through thesheets, which may run from the inside through the backs, as shown, orfrom side to side after the last fold has been made in the well-knownway. It is always on the line of thelast fold, and may be made with anyof theusual sewing or stapling inachines. As the line of fastenings iscontinuous through all the books, it follows that the number ofliandlings in feeding to themachine is reduced in the same proportionthat the number of books on the sheet is increased. If a cover isdesired on the book or pamphlet, it maybe sewed at the same time, inwhich case thethread or wire will appear on the back, as in Fig. 28; ora suitable cover may be pasted on over the thread, so as to hide it, asin Fig. 29, giving a neater appearance to the pamphlet at In any case,after the book has been closed, having then the appearance shown in Fig.28, the top, side, and botton edges are to be trimmed by a papercutter',the dotted lines c to d, to e, and to f indicating the paper which is tobe removed. Lastly, the three books are cut asunder by two cuts, one onthe dotted line o o and one on u u, each one of the three thenpresenting the appearance delineated in Figs. 29 and 30. The successivesteps in the production of a thirtytwo page pamphlet, such as has beenjust described, may be modified without departing from the principleinvolved. It is, for instanee, possible to change the order and thedirection in Which the folds are made, and when that is done itimmediately becomes necessary to change the arrangement of the pages aswell, so as to be in harmony therewith, and give as the final result anumber of connected books, in each of which the folios follow in regularsequence.

Figs. 7 to 14, inclusive, will serve to illustrate the way in whichmodifications may be made. Fig. 7 represents the inside face of a sheetthe form for which was imposed so as to produce six thirty-two-pagebooks as the result of the printing, folding, &c., of every perfectedsheet, Fig. 8 shows part of the outside of the same sheet from which thearrangement of pages can be. deduced. In this case the lines on whichthe folds are made are all parallel to each other. They areindicated bythe dotted lines marked with the four last letters of the alphabet, asin the preceding case, and appear upon Figs. 9, 10, and 11, sad figuresrepresenting the successive steps in the process of folding. The arrows,as before, indicate the direction in which the sheet is turned, thefirst, third, and fourth being forward and the second backward, assumngthat the sheet lies all the time upon the folding-table with its faceup, which of course need not be the case. Figs. 13 and 14 show stillanother modification of this same form, in which the imposition is somodified as to admit of all the folds being parallel and at the sametime in the same direction-namely, inward-as indicated by the dottedlines and arrows which appear in Fig. 13, the former being marked, asbefore, with the same letters, z being the first fold, y the second, andso on backward. In Figs. 9, 10, 11, and 12 the capital letters I, J, K,and L indicate, after each fold, the creased edge of the paper. Thefinal separation of the six pamphlets is effected by single cuts uponthe dotted lines o, a, s, t, and r of Fig. 12, the work being of coursefirst trimmed on the three sides, as before deseribed, after sewing orotherwise bindin'g, as shown and explained in connection with Figs. 27to 30, inclusive.

Figs. 15 and 16 show the two sides of asheet arranged to furnisl threepamphlets of sixteen pages each. As in the previous case, the dottedlines and arrows indicate the way of folding, the same letters beingused, and the folded edges are represented by M, N, and 0, respectively.

Figs. 20 and 21 represent the two sides of a sheet printed from formsimposed for the Simultaneous production of two copies of asixty-four-page book. As in the preceding cases, the dotted lines andarrows indicate the manner of folding, and the letters P, Q, R, S, and Tmark the creased edges in Figs. 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26. The two booksare separated by cutting the dotted line 'v o.

From the foregoing it will be seen that when it is desired to intermixtwo or more repetitions of each page of a book or pamphlet embracing anyof the usual numbers of pages it is always possible to so adapt theimposing of the form to the particular manner and sequence of the foldsthat the result shall be the production o f a certain number ofperfectly-arranged books, the folio-numbers of which follow in regularsuccession, joined together at the ends, so as to be separable from eachother by a single cut. I have found, so far as my experiments haveextended, that a sheet of paper upon which any multiple of eight pagesof matter are to follow each other, forming eight-page books, can befolded in two legitimate ways only, which require a different impositionof the forms arranged to cover both sides of the paper with the desirednumber of IXO multiples of said eight pages.

p pages of matter the number of changes under like conditions will, Ibelieye, prove to be four; for thirty-two, the number willbe eight, andfor sixty-four, sixteen, &c.

The advantages which accrue from my method are obvious when pointed out.They may be briefly cited as follows: p

First. The economic use of large forms, for which many presses are nowfitted.

Second. The folder, dealing with large sheets, makes only the samenumber of movements hehas to make in folding a single book.

Third. In trimmiug, material and labor are both saved. If we compare theloss of paper in trimming a single book with the loss incurred upon thesix books shown in Figs. 7 to 12, inclusive, it will be seen that totrim the six books in the ordinary way requires eighteen cuts, whilewhen my method is followed eight are sufficient. In the former case,too, paper is lost on three sides, whereas I waste on each v book paperfrom two and one-sixth sides only;

or, to put it differently, in trimming the six books I save a strip ofpaper as long as the lenth of the sheet and at least one and onefourthinch wide.

Fifth. In stitching or otherwise binding the books and attaching thecovers the num- 0 ber of movements is greatly diminished and conveniencein handling increased.

I am aware that it is'a common thing to print simultaneously two or moreimpositions For sixteen of the same series of pages required for a bookor pamphlet in the same press and at the same time, each series to becut asunder while fiat and folded separately; andIdo not claim, broadly,any such proceeding.

hat I do claim, and desire to secure by Lettersv Patent, is-

1. The improvement in the art of making books, which consists, first, inimposing a plurality of all the pages required to make a single book,then printing a sheet from said imposed pages, then folding the sheetinto a group of books, then binding the group along asingle line, thentrimming the group as a whole along its unbound margins, and finally Iseparating the books forming the group by a number 'of cuts less by onethan the whole number of books, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

2. The step in the method of book-making hereinbefore described, whichconsists in folding aprinted sheet which contains a group ofsuitablymposed books upon aline coincident with the back fold com mon toall books of the group, then secnring the leaves of the whole grouptogether' along the common back fold, and then severing the books fromeach other.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in thepresence of two witnesses.

DWIGHT S. CLARK.

Witnesses:

SELwYN Z. BOWMAN, CHARLES S. ENSIGN.

